I have been lucky enough to have had a really good run of extraordinary albums to review recently: Luck of the draw and one case of pathetic wheedling. But they do kind of put things into sharp relief, particularly when looking back at other albums in the cold light of day.

Russian clan Pseudogod present me with a striking and pretty stylish cover for their debut full length but knowing little about them beyond the PR sheet I have no preconceptions at least. A quiet beginning to Vehement Decimation suddenly buckles and breaks beneath a thick down tuned riff the like of which I haven’t heard since Teitanblood and we appear to be heading towards the brutal and bestial end of the black/death metal cannon. The vocals are rather good too; deep, hollow growls like a black wind through a tunnel and mixed just about to perfect levels. It’s a dark and uncompromising beginning that I have hopes for progressing.

Problem is after a couple of tracks it begins to creep up on you that there is a lot of repetition here that begins to be numbing rather than mesmerizing.

There is a very structured approach to the tracks, despite the seeming heads down battering of these heavy, dense riffs. Beneath the initial fury you can find a solid buttress of death metal here particularly in the slower parts and the more obvious lead sections. Initially and in small doses this works well but with prolonged exposure it becomes a set pattern, a predictable one in terms of tempo and tempo change. There is nothing threatening to suddenly break out or rip the world from its pivot, nothing of chaos or storm. The faster sections become as channelled as the slower ones and despite only the closing number The Triangular Phosphorescence being of a longer length, listening to this as a whole is ultimately an experience which seems stretched out being its actual time. Unlike, say, Pact or Bahimiron who stay as uncompromised as Pseudogod but make the framework dance like possessed bones.

So the goods points here for Pseudogod are that uncompromising mentality, the solid sound and the determination to batter down the walls with the riffs. They are a well drilled unit too. They have the tools and the rather good foundation of a sound firmly in place. They just need to work on seeing how they can build more shape on top of that initial, forceful sound and maybe a little less rigidity to their songs might not go amiss.

(5/10 Gizmo)

http://www.myspace.com/pseudogodVIVI